Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-12-16
the material statements of the defendant
JOHN AnExsDoRF TEsr1F1Es.
The Chief Defendant Placed Upon The
Witness Stand.

The Chief Dcf.nt l;.nt Placed Upon The
| Witness Stand.
John Arens lori being sworn said: ] am
| the defendant in this case. L have lived
over ten years i'll Sioux City. l am q
brewer ana have been twenty years. /
learned the trade in Belgium. / came to
S ou1 City in 1877 and have been here ever
! since. l have been foreman for the Franz
Brewery company, and hive been ever since
the company was formed. / am still fore
man Cor that company. The evening of
meeting at Holdenreil's hall. l was there
about five minutes. / only attended the
one meeting. was not that night in Sc :
cret consultation with Lenvitt, Treiber and
others, neither ut that hall nor elsewhere.
did not have any conversation with Leav-
| lit, about burning or blowing up nnybodv's
| house, nor about injurying anybody nor
about whipping or lnjurying Haddock,
Wood or anybody else, nor did say any
thing to thu effect that there was money in
James Junk's hands to pay for whipping
anybody did not say SO nor did any one
else i'll my hearing. / don't remember
who left Holdenreids hall with me. was
in Sioux City the next day. l
was around town the night of that
day collecting bills for beer for
the Franz Brewing company. l started
out to collect about 2 o'clock of Tuesday,
August 2. / was dressed in n blue coat,
blue pants and high boots. My clothes
We're more or less muddy. did not wear
rubber coat that evening. | wore INV
pants inside my boot tops. At about
O'Clock that evening ] went into Phil
Charles saloon and stayed there TIL about
9:30. l met Barnes and Davelaar there.
Trey were with me all the time there.
was not talking about anything connected
with the enforcement of the prohibi'ory
liquor law. did not talk with Plnh,
1reiber, Munchrath or any other saloon
men. From Eberle's saloon l went to the
Shepherd saloon across the street. Barnes
went with me, Eberle did not. At the
Shepherd saloon order d steak for two.
Ii was near 1929 or 1D:25 When / ordered
the steak. Then went into the front
part. When supper was ready l went i'll; o
one OF the side-rooms. Louis Hagenois
was the cook gave the order to. l met
rant part. Barnes went with me to eat
supper 1t took us ten or fifteen minutes.
After supper we came into the bar room
and Barnes went home and ] then went to
the Chicago salool, three or four doors
east. only looked i'll. and came out and
went to Junks saloon. saw Grady
aud Scoll I'd there. ] didn't see Robson
there. | renamed there only few min
utes. While / was there Leavit, Plath,
lrelbcr and Peters came in. l had
not been with them that evening. That
was the first time / had seen them.
L did not go out with them. | was
in Junk's three or tour minutes. [ think ]
went out after they did. When went out
went east, not west, and did not know
where they went, nor was | in their COM
pany. l went east on the south side of
Fourth street, and Gro, scd over 10 the
Shepherd saloon. shook dice with Louis
Hogenoi. l stayed in the Shepherd about
two minutes. Invent out and then went to
the English Kitchen saloon. I did not ut
the last trial testify that l went TO The
Shepherd saloon the second time. [ went
on the north side Of Fourth street after
leav ing the Shepherd saloon to the Hub
bard house and crossed over to the south
side and went block east TO the English
Kitchen saloon. Harry Sherman was
there. We Went into the saloon. When L
first heard that a man had been sbo I WIS
at the English Kitchen. 1t was a few III H.
utes after got there. After / heard it I
started west. Nobody went with me.
went west on the south side of Fourth
street to tho corner of Water street, and
remained there q moment. Then I went
over to the brewery and looked for
IVY "l''Ih'h, out di"h Inu n!hi.
Then went back across the bridge.
l had not crossed the bridge that
night till ! crossed it after the killing. l
was not present at the killing aud knew
nothing of it at the time. did not know
beforehand that any one intended to whip
or injure Haddock. l lived on Bluff street
at that time, on the west side of Perry
creek. had no pistol or weapon about
me that nj ,ht and was not i'll the habit of
carrying arms. | have heard Leavitt's and
Bismarcks testimony. l was not present
at the time OF the killing. l did not say
there anything about a drunken Dutch
man." 1 dia not take revolver out of
ny pocket and fire a shot that night |
cid not run across Perry creek bridge with
Henry Peters or any one else. l had no
conversation with Leayitt the next day IN
front OF Warllch's saloon about the muir
der On the evening of the murder at
Junk's saloon I didn't hear anybody say
that the buggy had got back. I did not
say to Leavitt after the killing that l
didn't feel any too VIII, nor say that
the killing Of Haddock was q bad thing.
nor that everybody had got to keep
still. nor did ! ask Leavitt if l could
depend on him. l had no sucn CONVERSE
ton. had talk with Leavit at his the
atre with II few days of the kiln, but
Peters out OF the state, nor anywhere [
was not IN company with Bismarck on the
day OF the killing. ! SAW Bismarck at Joe
Borsch's beer gard n. ] did not tDere give
Bism rex any money, nor Tell him that he
ought 10 leave the country, nor say any,
thin about Treber paying him 1925 nor
about getting 800 from Junk to give to
Folser to pay him going out of the country,
nor about changing his nam, after leaving
the country. l know Adoiphus Knepper.
bought tn house from B.smarck's VIII
In buying that Lous l was acting AS knep-
pe.'s agent ana made the purchase with
his money. l;ismarcks wife seut no;e to
ne by her ittl4 girl asking me to come
to her house, and l went l did not
ask her TO wait little before going away.
because there was too much excitem mt,
| On the following Sun lay l had another
talk W TIL Bismarck's wife at her house. l
told her to look up the papers. and size did
! SO, and bought the house I did not tell
her to get ready to go away the next day.
was acting as agent III that transaction.
At the Mllwauk e house l had another
| conversation wit5 Bismarck's wife. Lea
oer was not present, nor Minnie, Bis
marks little girl, I did no fall bar th,t